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From Sea to Shining Sea

On this date, March 28, 1929, Katherine L. Bates died. A daughter of a Congregationalist, minister, she was a poet and songwriter. Her most famous work, published in 1895, was the patriotic hymn “America the Beautiful.”

She said that her first draft of “American the Beautiful” was jotted down in a notebook after her trip of Pikes Pean in Colorado. She said, “when I saw the view, I felt great joy. All the wonder of America seemed displayed there, with the sea-like expanse.”